And their future shall be with a former junior college walk-on. To be sure, it was hardly a typical journey that defensive tackle Sylvester Williams took from high school dropout to large truck-radiator mechanic to becoming the No. 28 draft pick for the Broncos on Thursday.

"The guy understands what a blessing it was," said Broncos coach John Fox. "I think he's mature for his age."

Williams, a 6-foot-3, 313-pound prospect from North Carolina, briefly dropped out of high school as a sophomore and never played organized football until his junior year in high school.

"I was a basketball player and I thought I was pretty good," Williams said when asked why it took him so long to take up football. "I loved the game of basketball."

A good senior season of football at Jefferson City (Mo.) High School carried enough promise for Williams to enroll at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, the junior college program that produced running backs Brandon Jacobs and the late Damien Nash.

Before enrolling at Coffeyville, though, Williams took a $12-an-hour job making radiators. And they say playing a football game in the trenches is a dirty job.

After two years of junior college ball, Williams received a scholarship to play for the North Carolina Tar Heels. He came on as a senior last season, registering six sacks and 13½ tackles for losses.

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Fox and Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio love defensive tackles who can penetrate the backfield. The team made a similar pick last year when they got Cincinnati defensive tackle Derek Wolfe with the No. 36 pick in the second round. Wolfe played defensive end in the base defense last year, moving inside to tackle on passing downs.

It's possible the Broncos will use Wolfe and Williams as defensive tackles on passing downs with Kevin Vickerson and Terrance Knighton starting in the base defense.

Williams might have become the Broncos' choice after there was a run of cornerbacks taken just before the team's No. 28 pick.

D.J. Hayden went No. 12 to Oakland, Desmond Trufant went No. 22 to the Atlanta Falcons — who leaped ahead of the Broncos by trading up from No. 30 — and Xavier Rhodes went No. 25 to Minnesota.

Not that Williams wasn't a solid pick. It is believed New England was ready to take him with its No. 29 pick. After the Broncos nabbed the Tar Heel one spot ahead, the Patriots traded back with Minnesota.

"We were thrilled to death that he was there when it was our time to pick," John Elway, the Broncos' football operations boss, said of Williams. "His size, quickness. He's a penetrator."

Williams addresses a need in the defensive middle. Vickerson was a rotational guy until starting the past two years for the Broncos. Knighton was a rotational tackle last year for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Mitch Unrein was the only other Broncos defensive tackle with NFL playing experience.

There were three trades within the first 18 picks to bust mock drafts from Buffalo to San Francisco.

Three left tackles (Eric Fisher, Luke Joeckel, Lane Johnson) and three pass rushers (Dion Jordan, Ezekiel Ansah, Barkevious Mingo) were taken in the first six picks, which couldn't have hurt the market value of Broncos left tackle Ryan Clady, who is protesting his contract status by staying away from the team's offseason program.

The Tide rolled with three consecutive picks as Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner went No. 9 to the New York Jets, guard Chance Wormack went No. 10 to Tennessee and right tackle R.J. Fluker went No. 11 to the San Diego Chargers.

Hopes that Notre Dame middle linebacker Manti Te'o would go in the first round were dashed when the Chicago Bears took Oregon offensive lineman Kyle Long, the son of Raiders Hall of Famer Howie Long and brother of the St. Louis Rams' Chris Long.

Howie was selected in the second round of the 1981 draft; his two sons both went in the first round.

As for the Broncos' AFC West Division rivals, the Chiefs started the draft by selecting Central Michigan left tackle Eric Fisher with the No. 1 pick and the Raiders traded back to take Hayden. The Raiders also picked up an extra second-round pick in the swap.

The Chargers chose Fluker with their No. 11 choice.

Symbolizing the gap between the top team in the AFC West and everybody else, there was a long wait until the Broncos made the No. 28 pick.

Honors: All-America honorable mention playing for Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. Was named North Carolina's outstanding first-year player on defense in 2011. Named to all-Atlantic Coast Conference first team as a senior.

High school: Played only one season for Jefferson City High in Jefferson, Mo.

Upside: Has excellent strength as a bull rusher and can penetrate the backfield, as his 13½ tackles for a loss in 2012 proved. Has the arm strength to drag down running backs. Though he's a raw player, has shown an ability to read screens and draws. He has enough speed to get to the edge and make plays.

Question marks: Has played football only five years, but appears to be a player on the rise. NFL scouts say he struggles with consistency, making big plays but then tending to disappear. Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

John Mackey reacts as the Broncos' draft pick is revealed on television Thursday an NFL draft party at the Tavern Downtown in LoDo. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

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